Roses for Good Samaritans, Birdsboro Library work and sandwich creation

Friday, April 26, 2013

ROSES to Sara Pecharo, Kurt Buchler, and Nicole Jordan, three area residents who went into action to help a young woman they saw being attacked in Pottstown by a pack of three dogs. The three, acting individually, put themselves in harm’s way to get the dogs away from 19-year-old Katie Fadely and prevent further injury. The young woman was hospitalized after the March 15 attack, but the consequences could have been much worse if these three Good Samaritans had not intervened. Buchler suffered serious injuries in the attack while getting the dogs away from Fadely. The three people were honored in a special service last Sunday at Valley Forge Baptist Church, the church’s first Good Samaritan service in which medals were given to the trio and a fund was established to pay medical bills for injuries to the victim and her rescuers. ROSES to the church for that gesture. This was truly a story of individual and community heroism and courage.

ROSES to Birdsboro Borough Council and J. P. Mascaro & Sons, the owner of the Pioneer Crossing Landfill, for a joint effort to put a new roof on Boone Area Library.

The library roofing project is estimated at $23,500, money the library does not have. Boone Area Library director Michelle Kehoe said the library has been in need of a new roof for several years, with library staff doing battle with leaks by moving buckets from place to place within the 11,000-square-foot facility at 129 N. Mill Street in Birdsboro. Borough resident, recreation board member and library supporter Jim Arms reached out to Pat Mascaro, president of J.P, Mascaro & Sons and explained the need and the lack of sufficient public funds available to complete the project. The company stepped forward and offered to contribute $15,000, or 70 percent, of the project cost. Kehoe said that J.P. Mascaro already donates $15,000 per year to the library to help with general operating expenses. Over the last five years, the company has donated a total of $75,000 to the library for expenses.

In another example of business community support, ROSES to Grumpy’s Sandwich Shop for putting on the menu a sandwich creation invented by Pottstown School District students. The winners of the first-ever Grumpy’s Chopped Challenge presented their creation to the public Wednesday at the downtown Pottstown sandwich shop. Alyssa Wanish and Hannah Irvin were presented with matching plaques and special T-shirts for winning the competition, held in February with the Pottstown High School culinary department. Their sandwich, “The Iranish Special,” will be featured on Grumpy’s menu periodically for the next year until the next Chopped competition at the high school. Wanish, Irvin and other senior members of the culinary class were on hand Wednesday to service up the winning sandwich to a crowd of hungry onlookers that included parents and school officials.